Md. Gov. O'Malley says he's pondering 2016 presidential run

BALTIMORE, April 11 (UPI) -- Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley says he needs to give "serious consideration" to whether he will run for the Democratic nomination for president in 2016.

O'Malley has in the past waved off questions about a potential presidential run, The Baltimore Sun reported Wednesday. However, in a meeting with the newspaper's editorial board, O'Malley said, "I need to be spending a lot more energy and time giving serious consideration and preparation to what -- if anything -- I might have to offer should I decide to run for president in 2016."

The two-term, 50-year-old governor, who will leave office in January 2015 because of term limits, said he needs to give the idea of running for president "the time, the thought, the brain power necessary."

During the meeting with the board, O'Malley described himself as a "performance-driven progressive."

He successfully pushed several bills through the General Assembly session that ended Monday, including abolition of the death penalty, gun safety laws, subsidies for offshore wind energy and higher taxes on gasoline.

In previous sessions, he was able to get the state Legislature to legalize same-sex marriage and grant in-state tuition fees to some immigrants in the United States illegally.

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